Heart of the World
by localschor
Summary: After Cinder and her plans fail near the end of RWBY and JNPR's first year at Beacon, and a year that follows that can be considered peaceful by comparison (but not uneventful). Now, starting their third year, they must find a balance between their personal lives and the duties they are training to perform. But the world won't wait, and neither will the darkness.
1. Chapter 1

_And on the third scale we have our kingdoms. They rise and fall, create and destroy, leave their mark and fade into darkness._

_-_Page 17, paragraph 1, line 1 of 'The Four Remaining scales'.

* * *

><p>Monday, 23:32. Headmaster's Office, Beacon.<p>

"As I've previously said, if we do not get ahead of this now, our children will be-"

"Councilman Bassville, do you even have children to speak on their behalf?"

"You know the answer to that, but it doesn't change my argument-"

Ozpin muted the debated broadcast as the conference call finally came in, he was expecting it, but certainly not looking forward to answering.

"Ozpin, you assured us the 'event' from last year will not breed repercussions."

The headmaster sipped from his mug noncommittally. "And I told you, I'm handling it."

"You seem to have a very different definition to 'handling it,' if this goes on any longer, we'll have to drop our support... Nobody wants that."

"Don't pretend you aren't enjoying this situation." Ozpin replied.

"Don't talk to us like we're your students."

Another sip. "I'll stop talking to you this way when you stop acting like children, it's not like anyone stole your toys... As long as everyone stays calm, you'll find there's nothing to worry about." He took another sip, and swiveled his chair to face away from the screen.

"What about the Penning initiative?"

He was lucky he was facing away, lest his features had betrayed his thoughts. "Advancing slowly, but still well within schedule." A lie, but a necessary one. He moved to drink more of his coffee, but found the mug empty.

He swiveled his chair around again, continuing. "Everything is going as planned, by the time the initiative goes online the rest of the pieces will already be in place."

"We don't like being in the dark, Ozpin."

"It's in the job description, just let me do my job, and you do yours."

"Just don't keep us hanging..." He was disconnected, letting them continue the conversation without him.

He had no choice but make a deal with the devil last year, but he wasn't going to just play the pawn. They insisted on looking three steps ahead, so he was thinking five.

Just as he was getting lost in thought, his scroll pinged. It was the 'secure' line he'd gotten after Atlas so majestically failed to protect his network eighteen months ago.

'Penning phase 1: prep complete' read the subject line, the body of the message was empty.

_For the children._

'Go green'. He replied.

He slept, if you can call it that, in his office that night.

* * *

><p>Tuesday, 05:43. Beacon.<p>

The hour at which Pyrrha Nikos woke up could only be described as 'obscene'. Her mood only got worse when she figured out that it was the pain in her abdomen that did the waking.

She turned around in her bed to look at the clock, it read quarter to six.

_Dust… Is a full night's sleep really too much to ask for!?_

She got up regardless, took her pills and left the room with only Miló and Akoúo̱ to keep her company.

Even at this hour the training grounds would be chalk full of hopeful students who get up at such hours to train, like she used to, before the spring holidays - and her accident. So instead, she walked to the secluded spot she found in her first year, and five minutes later she was at that spot - what she assumed was the ancient version of the Beacon monument.

While nowhere near as grandiose as the one in the entrance to the school, this spot was open enough to train, and secluded enough to fumble without anyone seeing you do it.

She took a deep breath, then slowly entered a basic spearman's stance. Miló placed under her forearm, Akoúo̱ raised to protect the torso and her weight placed on her forward leg.

This was one of the first things her teachers taught her, and it felt natural.

First, the basics... She started with thrusts, parries, weight-shifts and relocations. Slowly, painfully, taking each step in perfect deliberation, checking herself all the while for imperfections.

After the first form she moved on to the next exercise, she did this one quicker, more flourished. Adding parries and blocking with her shield randomly between the steps.

Half an hour into the forms, she stopped to catch her breath. Even without her armor she was already sweating, and she hated it.

_Just two weeks off my feet and I can't even finish my forms…_

This time, she closed her eyes, visualizing six - _no, can't handle that_ - four opponents, a few meters away. They were flanking her, one in front, one on her right, one to her left and the fourth one behind her.

A deep breath and she was off...

Taking the offensive, she charged at the enemy facing her - of course, the armored hammer-wielder wouldn't just stand there and take a hit, he would counter with an attack of his own, taking the hammer in an arch over his head.

_My block would be too slow_… So she tugged, not physically, but with her semblance, on Akoúo̱.

This wasn't a horrible position to be in, the hammer deflected off her shield, but the magnetic pull gave her a spin, and a moment later she was crouched, facing away from that enemy, with Miló's spearhead buried in the ground, and the other end of her spear - the muzzle of her rifle mechanism, just two inches away from her opponent's armored chest.

She pulled the trigger.

The bullet did not pierce the armor, but it would devastate his aura, as well as leave him hopelessly off balance and very open to a follow up, so she stood up, tugging again. This time it was on the business end of the spear, which spun in her hand and placed itself in the perfect position for a backward thrust.

While she didn't spend a shot on this attack, it still had the force to finally tip the hammer-wielder over.

But now her position was problematic, so she jumped backwards, using Miló, with its point on the hammer-wielder's torso, as an acrobatic pole.

She landed and got into a defensive stance just in time to meet the coordinated assault of her next two opponents, one with a spear, the other a sword and both unarmored.

The attack was well performed, she barely ducked under the sword aimed at her neck, or parried the spear aimed at her leg. She then took a half-step backwards.

Funny thing about training as a team, it's almost impossible to practice the off chance of a failed combo, there are just too many things that can go wrong; so when this happens, the fighters will almost always switch to easier tactics.

So with both attackers now aiming at her chest, taking the advantage would be relatively easy, she pushed on Akoúo̱, making sure the shield had the force behind it to deflect both attacks, giving her the opening she needed to place the spearman in close quarters and the swordsman behind him.

Without armor, a speed type combatant depends heavily on the concept of not getting hit. This has its pros - but also its cons, the biggest of which, is the fact that it takes a lot less force to take down an aura and draw blood. So forgoing the time it takes to prepare a proper thrust, the timing is significantly reduced,_ just aim and pull the trigger_.

Which leads to a bleeding spearman thrown at a swordsman, knocking the two prone.

Refocusing, Pyrrha noticed the first opponent was on his feet again, and the fourth opponent was just standing a few paces away... With a shotgun.

_I hate shotguns._

Pyrrha was definitely not ready for that particular turn of events, and had no choice but take the hit. Even straining her semblance to deflect the pellets could only do so much, and she felt a spiking pain in her spear arm.

She knew it just her wounds reopening, but she didn't let that stop her.

She charged at the shotgun, ignoring the tactical suicide and allowing her semblance to consume the little energy she had left to distract the gunman long enough to complete her attack.

Even with pain all over her body and the blood dripping from her hand, a proper thrust, powered by her rifle mechanism, had no trouble skewering the vitals of the shotgun wielder.

_Two down, two to go. _She was tired and in pain, but by now the hammer-wielder was upon her, and the swordsman finally extracted himself from under his friend.

She bashed her shield into the hammer aimed at her head, and followed up with a rifle powered thrust, to little effect. It did give her the opening to throw Akoúo̱ at the swordsman, however.

Without the assistance of her semblance, Akoúo̱ was wholly ineffective, what's worse, the shield won't come back, and the hammer-wielder was already attacking again.

Pyrrha dropped prone and tumbled backwards. She would normally never consider a useless move like that, as any conscious opponent can simply take a step forward to and attack again.

Hammers, though, with their extremely short range were the exception to this. The hammer-wielder would still need to bend after his step if he wanted to continue his assault.

And so she allowed Miló to leave her hands and, powered by a trigger pull, the spear pierced through the eye slit of her opponent's helm, taking the third man down.

Her body seemed to become a full choir of pain, her imagined assailant must have stomped on her stomach to keep her pinned, an event she should have predicted.

Only the swordsman was left. He stood above her lying, bleeding frame in apprehension of the destruction she has wrought on the rest of his crew. With his enemy now unarmed and without shield, he took his time to prepare a coup de grâce.

_A grave mistake._

Pyrrha lashed out, grabbing the man's leg and forcing him down to his knees. He struggled, but Pyrrha was already grabbing higher and higher up his body leading to his neck.

A stab with the sword caused another part of her body joined the chorus, but she could no longer differentiate the origins of her pain, and by this time had her arm locked around his neck, suffocating him.

The swordsman thrashed, fighting to escape her hold. That wasn't the only front she was fighting though, as her own consciousness was also slowly fading.

It felt like an eternity, but her last enemy finally stopped struggling long enough to be considered defeated.

"-rrha… Pyrrha!" Pyrrha finally opened her heavy eyes to a pair of sunglasses swimming around her quickly fading field of view.

"Coco… thought… graduated… what...?" Pyrrha slurred as she felt Coco hoisting her up and starting to carry her. Her vision cleared up just long enough to look around, there was no one around but the two of them, but the clearing looked like the time Nora brought a bucket of red paint to the dorm. At least she wasn't in pain anymore. _Was that a good sign?_

"Dust, girl… I came because I knew you were going to act stupid, didn't expect you to rip every stitch in your-"

Pyrrha was no longer conscious at this point.

* * *

><p>14:00, Beacon central courtyard.<p>

The first day of the school year is, by and large, a minor celebration amongst the student body. With most of the teaching staff gone for the first-year's initiation, the older students take this time to make the rounds, meet up with their friends and (as is the truth for a not so minor minority) copy the assays that were due tomorrow.

Weiss Schnee took this time to coordinate the annual (and very large) shipment of dust her father sent her, ordering the myriad of mooks around as they were transferring crate after crate to an empty room in the third year dorm she was able to secure.

Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long and Nora Valkyrie, on the other hand, were making Weiss's life miserable for it, and together the four of them were, as always, very loud.

Blake Belladonna and Ren Lie's chosen venue was a balcony overlooking the courtyard and their friends. Blake was sitting on the railing, reading a small hardback; Ren just leaned on the railing, overlooking the ruckus outside.

_She's not wearing her bow._ Ren noticed, and decided he liked the sudden openness from the cat Faunus. Especially the way her ears twitched every once in a while, signifying that she heard something.

After a few minutes, Blake, still transfixed by her book, talked first. "Where are Pyrrha and Jaune?"

Ren startled, but regained his cool quickly enough. "We got a call from the infirmary at six thirty in the morning, apparently she blew all of her stitches, so Jaune accompanied her to the hospital; never heard him curse the way he did, heading out."

She chuckled. "Remind me to never take Death stalker venom."

"Only if you remind-" Ren lost his chance at finishing the sentence when he heard an explosion from down below. Blake almost jumped at the sound, and they both looked to see the results of a Nora powered dust explosion, and heard Weiss's shrill voice - she was screaming.

Seeing Ruby was now preparing one of her famous sneezes, Blake closed her book with a thud, jumped off the railing and headed inside.

"Where are you going?" Ren asked.

"The library," She responded, not stopping. "You coming?"

Ren thought about it for a moment, but his ambivalence was cut short at the sound of a second explosion, and the Schnee girl's renewed screams had an even higher pitch this time.

He shrugged to himself and caught up to Blake.

* * *

><p><strong>Afterword, Explanations &amp; Flame prevention:<strong>

1st. Pyrrha and Ren/Blake (as a pairing) will take most POVs. Other members of the cast, as well as OCs will fade in and out as the plot progresses.

2nd. Ren X Blake will be a thing, in a Victorian-like, M~T sort of way. I'll experiment with it.

3rd. Timeline: I assume the Cinder arch ends sometime in RWBY's first year, leading the way to much more peaceful (but certainly not uneventful) second year of training for the cast.

About two weeks before the events in my story (the last hunt for the second-years) Pyrrha took a direct hit from a deathstalker's stinger, which transferred a dose of what I non-canonically call deathstalker venom. The venom destroys the soul's connection to its body, which makes (among other nasty effects) healing via aura impossible. The treatment for this is long and painful, it starts with dialysis, continues with antibiotics and consumable dust, and usually involves long hospitalization periods.

*Off screen, Pyrrha discharges herself from the hospital, against doctor's orders, and returns to the academy with everybody else.

A. Ozpin's scene happens that night, before the first-year's initiation; all the students have already gotten to Beacon.

B. Pyrrha's scene is the next morning.

C. Ren's scene happens the afternoon of Pyrrha's scene.

Hope that makes sense.

4th. Yes, I know Milo is a _javelin..._ and a sword... and a rifle... Blame Sanderson for making Kaladin as cool as he is.

I'll try to make it worth your while... (I'll probably fail, but I'll give it a shot.)


	2. Chapter 2

'_Matters of Dust are matters of Aura, which make them matters of the soul; in turn they are matters the mind, and at the center of the mind, you find the heart.'_

'Of Dust and Men', act three, spoken by the antagonist.

* * *

><p>17:42, RWBY room, third-year dorms, Beacon academy.<p>

In the same way the second-year dorms were an upgrade when compared to those of the first-years, the third-year dorm only added to the trend. In addition to yet another healthy increase to the room's size, each of the girls has their own four-poster, and their personal closets now came with a lockbox.

"Yann~g! Why are you making yourself sooo~ pretty?!" Ruby finally broke down and asked the question that's been on her mind for half an hour. She tried concentrating on the Weapons Magazine she reading, but it was a lost cause.

"Meeting Car in the city, you don't want your sister to look like a train wreck, do you?" Yang, who spent the past hour picking clothes, brushing her hair, and putting make up, answered.

"But it' said school night~" Ruby started, and was ignored.

"I still don't understand what you see in that child." Weiss interjected. Considering she called him an ogre all last year, Cardin seems to have been appointed a new rank in the world of Schnee this year.

"You know, he _has _matured since the time he was picking on Jaune." Yang replied, trying a forth shade of lipstick.

"Aren't we talking about the guy who terrorizes first-years?" Weiss then giggled at a text she received on her scroll, and proceeded to text back.

"Hey, nobody's perfect... I can compromise brains for the occasional romantic flare." She winked and blew a kiss at Weiss to make a point.

It was Ruby who reacted, however, and the shiver down her spine was priceless. "You tell him," she began, passing the distance between her bed and where Yang was standing in an instant.

"That if he so much as makes a move on you-"

"Then we'll tag team together," Yang locked Ruby under her arm, and began a noogie, to her sister's dismay. "Right, Rubes?"

Ruby was about to answer when Nora burst the door open, shouting Ren's name at the top of her lungs. "Ren!"

"He's not here," Weiss answered, defending her ears.

"Just calm down, Nora." Ruby continued, still locked under Yang's arm. "What happened?"

Yang released Ruby in time to hear Nora's answer. "Ren's been gone since the princess's dust exploded, ('-don't get me started on-') and he won't answer his scroll."

"Sure he's around, somewhere," Yang returned to her preparations. "He's a big boy."

"Yeah, but it's almost supper, and we were supposed to meet Rory to congratulate her."

"What's a 'Rory'?" Ruby asked.

"My sister, she enrolled this year." Nora explained.

"I didn't know you had a sister." Weiss said, and got distracted when her scroll notified her of another text.

"Ooo~h, I want to meet your sister!" Ruby exclaimed. "I'll be good, I promise!"

"Fine, but let's find Ren first." Ruby and Nora left on that note, and cries for Ren restarted from outside quickly enough.

Yang finished working on herself ten minutes later, and took out the Bumblebee's key from the lockbox.

"Isn't it a two hour drive to Vale?" Weiss asked.

"Yup."

"Huh..." Was Weiss's bland answer to her bland response. "Come to think of it, haven't seen Blake since this morning."

"Don't know..." Yang tucked her helmet under her arm and headed out.

_And don't care..._

* * *

><p>18:03, the Beacon library.<p>

Blake was sitting on the railing of one of the third floor balconies; she was still reading a book, but the sunset she was facing and the slight drop in temperature that followed gave a really nice ambiance to the deed.

"So there you are," Ren stepped out to the balcony. "I was wondering if you left without me."

She had actually stepped out ten minutes ago – he was really into his book.

"You hungry yet?" He asked.

"A bit, figured I'd just eat from one of the stashes." There is a Beacon tradition among the students who spend too much time in the library: several 'stashes' of snacks have been hidden in the building and anyone can eat from them, assuming you knew where one was, and later filled it up for the next hungry reader.

"Sounds good," he reached in to an inner pocket and took out a pouch, which Blake quickly found out stored components for a long smoking pipe.

"When did you start smoking?" She asked.

"Since before we came to Beacon," Ren began assembling the pipe. "Nora is actively hostile to the idea, so I don't smoke around her."

"So that means…" She chuckled. "Never."

"You get the idea," after the pipe had been assembled he started prepping the tobacco, and Blake returned to her book.

"Reading in the dark will ruin your eyes," He said, and Blake looked up, at where the sun used to be.

She didn't even notice it got dark, with only the artificial lights from inside affording their luminescence.

She then looked towards Ren, and their eyes locked for a moment, it passed quickly though, when Blake twitched her cat ears.

"Ohh… Forgot about that."

_Did he, really?_

Ren finished his work on the pipe and lit it. Moments later he puffed a cloud of smoke.

For a second there, the puff looked a lot like a charging Boarbatusk, before losing its form.

"That's a nice trick," it really was pretty cool.

"I thought so too, so Nora's father taught me." He replied, before inhaling again.

_Great__…_

"What's the deal with you and Nora, anyway?"

Ren exhaled, it was a normal, formless cloud this time. "It's… Complicated…"

_My life story._

The next few minutes dragged on in silence.

"Finish up and let's head to the cafeteria," Blake finally got off the railing.

"I thought you didn't want to?"

"I remembered it is fish night." Blake went back inside.

She didn't wait for Ren to follow her.

* * *

><p>20:18 Recovery Ward, Vale Central Medical.<p>

The first thought that crossed the Headmaster's mind when he reached the hospital was how terrible the coffee was. It not that he didn't worry about Pyrrha - he spent all day doing that, and he'd already talked to her doctor.

She was awake.

He entered Pyrrha's room, which appeared as much like a workshop as it did a hospital room. Her weapon was dismantled into what looked like a hundred components and neatly arranged across the movable treys the staff usually use for medical equipment.

Pyrrha herself, bandaged head to toe, with a central line connected to half a dozen IVs, was on the bed, working on one of the components with precision tools, and Juane was sleeping in a chair in the corner – he must have worried himself sick.

"Pyrrha," Ozpin said a silent minute later. "Was I being vague during our talk yesterday, when I let you come back to Beacon?"

She didn't look up, continuing her tuning. "No."

"I told you not to strain yourself."

"You did."

"Then what were you thinking, bleeding all over the Ranger's Plaza?"

"So that's what it was called."

"Don't evade the subject." Ozpin warned.

The wounded girl finally put down the tools, she must be ashamed, because she still wouldn't look at him. "I had to make sure."

"Sure of what?"

Finally, she looked up at Ozpin, her eyes speaking of defiance, not against him, but to herself. "I'm not half of what I was."

"You're wounded," he said flatly. But her stare didn't waiver, so he sighed and continued. "Let's say you're right, from what Coco told me, you can still take down half the teams that graduated last year, on your own."

"It's not enough," she lowered her gaze, and a barely perceptible thud came from a weak punch against her bed.

"It's never enough, but you _have_ to let your body heal, you are not immortal, and if you push yourself again like that, you _will_ die."

He felt his words finally sink in. Getting the old Pyrrha back would be a slow process, and even then he wasn't sure it would actually be his star pupil who would be coming back.

He placed his hand on hers supportively. "Listen to you doctors and get better, then we'll work to bring you up to snuff, what do you say?"

"Fine," she finally answered.

"Good, I'll come back to visit you again in a few days." He proceeded towards the exit. "I want to see you better next time."

* * *

><p>20:26, outside the Vale Central Medical.<p>

When Ozpin left the hospital, Coco was already waiting, sitting on a bench.

She'd spent the day shopping, trying to get her mind off Pyrrha.

It worked, to a certain degree.

As he approached, she handed him a Stardust coffee cup. He thanked her and mumbled about the quality of the 'swill' they sold in the hospital.

He sat down, and they both drank.

"How is she doing?" Coco finally broke the silence.

"Not as good as I hoped," Ozpin replied. "But certainly better then I feared."

"Will she return to the school?"

"Next week, if she gets the clear... Her aura is slowly starting to heal the body."

"That's good," she took another sip.

"It's now more about her mind then her body, if she doesn't take this and evolves, she won't be the fighter she remembers she was, and that's a slippery slope."

"At least she has a lot of friends."

"The finer advantage with Beacon's training regime," Ozpin drank some more. "I've excused Juane for now, and I'll make sure the others can visit her, too."

Coco finished her coffee and started arranging her things. "Can you make sure she gets this?"

She gave him a shopping bag, one of a very large number she was picking up.

"You know, I thought I wouldn't be seeing you for at least a couple of years, considering you were the one who asked to be assigned to Atlas."

"The General put me in contact with the ASS after the incident, last year... What can I say, you knew I was a patriot."

"The Secret Service? You're a spook now?" Ozpin finished his own cup and stood up.

"Nah, but as you can see... I'm not planning on seeing home, anytime soon."

They parted and Coco left for her rented apartment in Vale.

She assumed Ozpin would head directly to the school.

She was wrong.

* * *

><p>03:32, Entrance to the third-year dormitory, Beacon Academy.<p>

Cardin always assumed he'd never be the adult, in any relationship. He was happy being the frat boy, the occasional bully (for fun and profit,) or even just the one to be taken care of.

Quite honestly, he was afraid of Yang, when they first met. It was only early last year that their social circles began to intersect, and somehow, he didn't know how, he got on the woman's good side.

Yang was energetic, upbeat, spontaneous, and all such good things.

The rest was history, he asked her out, but she chose the place, and the hookup was good.

Yang was there, however, when Pyrrha got hurt, and she hasn't been the same since.

Granted, she's been doing all of the same stuff, and it's only been a few weeks.

But her motives for doing anything these days are almost self-destructive in nature, so all he could do was make sure she didn't get into fights when they were out, or pass out in gutter or something.

_We've all been out of character for a while now, Beacon has that effect._

The old Cardin would never have been thinking such thoughts, but he wasn't the old Cardin.

"Thanks... For taking care of her."

Carrying the knocked out Yang into the dormitory at three in the morning, and lost in thought, was not a situation he expected to meet anyone in, least of all the cat girl.

Reading a book in the entrance to the building, and wearing her pajamas.

"Well one of us has to," he could see, even in the shadows of the artificial lighting, that Blake had a pained look about her, as he passed with Yang in tow. _Dust... I told myself I would be more tactful._ "Sorry... Look, I know you care about her, and I don't know what happened during the hunt, but whatever happened, just talk to her already."

She looked down, not at her book, as it was closed, and didn't answer.

He started to move again, then she finally answered. "When we first arrive at Beacon, they partner us up, tell us that we'll be together for four years. They told us our partner will be the one we trust most, the one who trusts us the most..."

Yang tensed, and mumbled indecipherably in reaction to Cardin's relatively sudden movements, as he turned around to look at Blake.

He could see her sad eyes even though he couldn't see the rest of her face. "But what if I don't deserve that trust? If I don't deserve her as my partner?"

"You already know the answer to that if you wait out here, through the night, for us to return," he said, without even thinking about it; it was, in fact, that late. "It's not about what you deserve, it's about Yang, and what she deserves."

Who the Dust died and made him the smart one?

_Shit, I really should be more tactful._

They exchanged pleasantries and he put Yang in her bed, then went to sleep himself.

* * *

><p><strong>'The Morning After' Afterword:<strong>

I made a few correction now that I'm more alert, but all in all I'm content with the way it turned out. This came as I surprise to me though, as writing this took me over twice as long as it should have.

I've actually had a few problems, which start with not really being all that good with non-combat scenes, then Blake decided she wouldn't conform to my original plans for her in the Ren/Blake scene (a really sappy shoujo protagonist archetype) which completely threw me off momentum, and after lamenting a few days I came to the compromise you see in the scene: a _slightly_ less sappy shoujo protagonist archetype, and a skip along the plot-line (which will comeback to bite me later.)

And if that wasn't enough, I accidentally deleted the finished copy of the chapter when I was trying to back it up, so I had to redo about half of it.

So yeah... More ground work with this chapter, and probably the next few too, as I still haven't touched the plots for half of my cast yet.


	3. Chapter 3

**I placed the old foreword in the afterword section, just for continuity.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><em>'You can't truly know someone until he bears arms, whether physically or metaphorically, at you.'<em>

Victor Mark, a Vacuo general.

* * *

><p>Wednesday, 11:17. Lecture room 2, Beacon Gymnasium<p>

Professor Gullive had spent two hours droning on about the varying conditions of victory in combat, and how they should affect tactics. While for the most part no one can contest his tactical acumen, he conveyed his knowledge in boringly constructed lectures and complex math.

"As you can clearly see from the results of the formula I taught you last year," he didn't care no one was paying attention, it seemed, as he graded students solely on their performance in duals. This and the fact that he is a successful fiction author has led to the extremely clever quip, 'you may as well travel during his class'. "Going out of your way to engage the weaker minion in this model is the best course of action, rather than going for the stronger leader."

He finished writing on the whiteboard and asked if there were any questions.

After a moment of deafening silence, the professor climbed onto his desk to look at his students.

Yes, he was that short.

He picked up his attendance form and looked it over, "Miss Valkyrie, any reason Mr. Arc is absent?"

Jaune was the only one who listened enough to ask questions, therefore, he was the only one Gullive would ever notice wasn't in the room.

"He's with Pyrrha. At the hospital." She answered drowsily, awakened at the sound of her name.

"Huh," the professor looked around again, only now noticing that Pyrrha wasn't there, either. "Yeah, Ozpin mentioned something..."

He dismissed suspicion and shrugged. "Okay students, we still have an hour, so we'll used that time to practice some of the material..."

He looked at the class again - weighing his students, this time.

"Let's start the new year with a bang, shall we? Miss Xiao Long, who do you want as your first challenger? Aim for an interesting matchup."

"Uhm, I don't know..." Yang, wearing her sunglasses, was still hung-over and half-conscious from last night. "Ruby?"

"A fine idea!" The dwarf hopped off the table. "You two, and your partners can get ready; team RWBY gets the first bout."

It took Yang a moment, but she jumped. "Waitwaitwait... I thought it was a one-on-one."

"No..." Professor Gullive raised an eyebrow. "You're doing a tag-in one hit, with challenger handicap. Weren't you listening to my lecture?"

"I can do it myself!" She whined.

"I have no doubt of your confidence, Miss Xiao Long," he replied, sternly. "But there is no reason to ignore the existence of your partner." The implication to last year's events were clear.

Ren looked over to Blake. She had sunk in her seat several inches in attempt to make herself smaller, and must have wanted to avoid this as much as her partner.

"But-"

"I'll take Blake's place..." Ren said before he realized, cutting Yang's argument short. "If that's all right?"

"Ren..." He heard Nora to his side. "What are you doing?"

Before he could answer, the Professor approved. "That would be fine, everyone, to the stadium!"

* * *

><p>11:25, the Inner Stadium, Beacon Gymnasium.<p>

Matches, especially of the sportive kind, had a few different types of rules to accommodate a variety of conditions.

The standard match, the most commonly known, lasts until either side's aura is down to 20%. In tournaments, though, where the combatants must fight multiple times with a relatively lower resting period, this is saved for the finals.

The second kind of victory condition is the half-standard. The combatants fight until either side is down to the difference between their original aura state, and 20%. In ideal circumstances, this threshold lies at 60%, give or take. This condition is mostly used in non-competitive bouts, as well as most quarter, and semifinals.

The third most common victory condition is the one-hit. Essentially, a single, clean hit on your opponent is enough to decide the match. The definition for what a 'clean hit' is, is sometimes up to the judge, which can cause problems. The one-hit format is mostly used during preliminaries, as well as endurance challenges.

There are others, of course, but these are by far the most widely used.

As for the number of combatants, I will make a long story short and just say that in tag-ins, if you are in your home area, you can 'tag-in' your partner to avoid losing. If any combatant reaches his loss condition, his partner does too.

_Why am I reviewing this to myself?_

"Well, boys and gals," in drastic contrast to his monotonous teaching techniques, the Professor really came alive during the 'practical' part of his course, Practical Combat Theory. "The rules of the game are a bit more complicated than last year," he took center stage, between Weiss and Ren, with the two sister standing in their respective corners. "This will be a tag-in one-hit. Miss Schnee and Miss Rose, however, are handicapped, and play by half standard rules.

Don't make it to short now."

He signaled for the teams to show their prematch respect and moved to the side.

"Heaven or hell? Let's rock!" He announced.

Weiss instantly took the offensive, laying out glyphs on the ground to amplify her charge.

_She'll zigzag... Any moment now..._

On cue, Weiss was no longer charging from the front, opting for an airborne strike from his right, instead.

The first strike was still more of a test then the actual assault, so Ren left-stepped and parried the jab, in a downward motion.

_Can't forget that clicking noise._

He connected his step into a full jump to the side. Good thing too, as his previous location literally exploded in a fiery blast.

Weiss did not relent, and continued to use her glyphs in rapid succession.

Content to remaining on the defensive, Ren let fly a couple of bursts from his guns, StormFlower, before blocking yet another jab. This time he jumped lightly, and used Myrtenaster as leverage for a forward flip, over his white haired opposition.

Auditory evidence of lightning ensued, and he felt a jolt rise up from his weapons. He won't trust them to work, anymore.

After a series forward athletic maneuvers, Ren faced Weiss. She stood there for a moment, to catch her breath, run her hand through her hair, and asses him.

I'm in position.

"Tired?" He asked tauntingly, and took a defensive stance.

"Not in the slightest," Weiss smirked, made a point of readjusting her own stance, and then renewed her charge.

She started slowly, at first. Even from afar, Ren could hear the clicking her sword made, in between her steps. About halfway, the glyphs reentered play, sending Weiss a long route, but quickly compounding on her momentum.

Ren, on the other hand, just kept watch as the now white streak made a drastic ascent, before dropping, almost on top of him. This could have actually been a winning maneuver, had he not shouted. "Tag!"

A lot of good things could be said about Weiss, but she did not see Yang coming.

There was a loud bang from Ember Celica, and Weiss flew across the arena. Ren looked up to the screen, to see his opponent's bar drop down to 67%.

Had Yang had her full faculties about her, she wouldn't have prematurely pulled the trigger, and that would have been the match.

Overall though, it was still _well played._

Ruby took a few steps forward, apparently having been tagged in.

The two sisters took an idle moment to asses each other. A couple of seconds later, Ruby slowly slid into a stance that took everyone in the room by surprise.

Extremely aggressive and forward leaning posture. Her scythe, Crescent Rose, placed with its head before her, very close to the ground, and the blade was angled away from Ruby's caped body.

Jaune might not have recognized, but anyone with formal training knew that every weapon had this one stance. One that had no immediate benefits...

One that had no obvious strengths...

One that you took only if you knew you were going to win...

One, that if you're looking for a blanket term to name it...

You'd call it a 'mocking stance'.

"Come on, Rubes," Yang called to her sister, she was definitely off balance. "Be serious!"

Ruby just tilted her head slightly, and revealed a crooked grin.

_An invitation._

If you ever wanted to know how good a fighter you are, Beacon keeps a complex ranking system that tallies from the second you enroll. Pyrrha Nikos, the star student, was by far the first place, having won almost every competition and event for the past three years.

Yang Xiao Long, slightly behind a particularly competent fourth-year, held third.

Lower your eyes a bit more, and you'll find Ruby Rose, placed under Nora Valkyrie, at eighth.

To her credit though, her age barred her out of not an insignificant number of tournaments, so in her case, there might be a slight gap between the rankings and reality.

_Can't be that much..._

"Fine!" Yang scratched her nose, and began preparing herself mentally. "Have it your way."

Ren felt a sharp rise in temperature, followed by Yang's hair, which shone in a lighter color.

He'd seen Yang do this enough times to imagine her face taking a solemn expression, and her eyes glowing in a bright, red hue.

Without any additional warning, the shining warrior charged. Her every step exploding against the ground, as if the elements themselves pushed her in their righteous fury.

A dozen shots were fired in melody with the impending destruction Yang seemed to promise. They were accurate, but Ruby deftly dodged the lot with a simple side step.

Just a few meters away by now, Yang jumped, a blazing trail of fire in her wake.

She knew the counter would come in the form of a powerful slash from Crescent Rose, and braced herself to riposte.

She was wrong.

The counter came in the form of her sister's hand, who stepped into Yang's charge, and grabbed her head.

From this far back and his odd angle, all Ren saw was Yang's entire body instantly becoming limp, like a doll, as shock, and momentum did not wait for her head to catch up.

A heartbeat later, Ruby smashed Yang's head into the ground.

Despite that fact that the entire conflict had lasted a second, maybe two, everyone watching had to be reminded that their own adrenaline was the only reason they even registered what happened.

That reminder, Crescent Rose, had finally hit the ground with a metallic thud, its owner had apparently let go of it to make her attack.

Ren's next instinct was to look up, at the large screen set to his side, only to witness the bar, the one representing Yang's aura reserve, drop from being almost full, to 32%.

A long, silent moment of shock.

"Sorry Yang," Ruby kept the grin, but extended a hand to help her sister up. "Got a bit overzealous there."

"Dust it, Ruby!" Yang exclaimed, after a short delay, and took the extended hand, using it to sit up, rubbing the back of her head. "That hur~t!"

"And that's a match!" Professor Gullive remembered to announce, as he walked to check up on Yang. Once he got there and had a chance to examine her head. He looked around, only to lay eyes on the also approaching Ren. "Mr. Lie, you're leaving school grounds after this, if I remember correctly?"

Despite his size, the Professor had little trouble helping Yang to her feet.

Yang, on the other hand, was having loads of trouble staying on them.

"You and Miss Valkyrie, help her get to the infirmary," he passed the dazed and barely standing woman to him. "You're dismissed... No, Miss Rose, you are the current champion, and will stay here to defend-"

Ruby and the Professor began to argue as Ren collected Nora, and the two left the gymnasium, taking Yang to the infirmary.

* * *

><p>12:00, Pyrrha's room, Recovery Ward, VCM.<p>

Juane was worried about Pyrrha.

It is noon already and she has shut everyone out - just put on her earphones first thing when she woke up, and hasn't responded to anyone.

She even her boyfriend - Jaune Arc - who spent the entire morning pacing through the halls.

He finally came up with an idea, and spent the last half an hour watching her from the entrance to her room, working up the courage to follow through.

Jaune finally finished his emotional preparation, and sat down on Pyrrha's bed. He took her hand in one of his, and kissed it as he took one of her earphones out of her ear.

"I'm not in the mood, Jaune," Were Pyrrha's first words that day.

"Just give me three minutes," he responded, taking out the other earphone - Pyrrha didn't move to resist. "I'll leave you alone after that, if you want..."

"Fine..." She replied, and allowed him to collect her other hand in his - he tried to make eye contact, but Pyrrha didn't let him.

"Do you remember, two years ago yesterday - when you saved me from that fall? Dust... I was a good for nothing back then, wasn't I? But you saw something in me I didn't see myself, you taught me everything I know - you helped me succeed in one of the toughest schools in the world, and you never asked for anything in return."

Jaune leaned forward, kissing both of Pyrrha's hands, which were still held in his. "I've been reading up on it lately, and I was going to wait for a better timing - but you need this more than I do, and I need you to understand - I'm here for you, no matter what."

"What are you talking about?"

Wisps of Jaune's aura, a blinding white in color, began to manifest as he gathered the strength of his soul. He began chanting, "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality -"

"Jaune?"

"Through this," he continued, the wisps gathering around his hands, which were now gripping Pyrrha's tightly. "We become a paragon of virtue and glory, to rise above all -"

"Stop, you don't know what you're doing..." Pyrrha cried weakly, trying to pull her hands away.

Her own aura, a weak red, began to glow too.

"Infinite in distance, and unbound by death -" his face awash with sweat, it was obvious he was putting everything he had into this.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha finally pulled on her hands strongly enough to free one of them, but Jaune obliviously continued.

"I release you of your burden, and in this act, bind -"

A reverberating slap broke Jaune's chant, and more importantly - his concentration, in the last possible moment. It took mere moments for both auras to dissipate, leaving the worn out teen open for a ravaging vocal assault.

"YOU NEVER THINK, DO YOU?"

"I was just -"

"YOU WERE NOTHING WHEN I FOUND YOU! YOU WILL ALWAYS BE NOTHING!"

Aghast, Jaune jumped and distanced himself.

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO LEAVE YOURSELF HELPLESS!" She stopped, desperately catching her breath.

Rather than reply, Jaune slowly walked out of the room, head low.

Silence ensued.

"Poor kid," the nurse, who was actually in the room all along, broke the monotony of the silence. "You really didn't need to stop him. Even if it wouldn't have helped, I wish my fiancé was so -"

She stopped talking when she noticed Pyrrha sobbing - long streaks of tears flowing down her face.

"There, there, what happened?" The nurse embraced the crying girl.

"Two years," Pyrrha sobbed. "I took him two years *sob* to finally become the man *sob* I always knew he-" she couldn't complete her sentence over her uncontrollable tears.

"Hush," the nurse did her best to comfort Pyrrha.

"But I can't, *sob* I can't do it anymore..."

Pyrrha continued talking, but her crying made most of it unintelligible.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3 post script<strong>

**So my computer, after much drama, decided to work again this morning (complete with an "it's alive!" exclamation by me.)**

**The revivification of my computer let me pass the chapter through the spelling/grammar check (I always miss those _dusting_ then/than(s),) and I've done the corrections.**

**Now for the afterword:**

**I actually finished the classroom and combat scene last week, which gave the freedom to agonize over the third scene for the majority of this one. I actually have a few partially completed scenes, some of which I'll scrap, and the rest I'll use later in the story.**

**In the last couple of days, I came up with the current Pyrrha/Jaune scene, and decided to go for it – delaying the publication of chapter 3 by almost a day after I had planned to release it.**

**If you go back to the show (chapter 6 of the first volume,) you notice Pyrrha says "I release your soul, and by my shoulder – protect thee," as the last sentence in the ritual. This insinuates that the ritual she uses is very personal way of activating a person's aura – you are taking responsibility over them, maybe even leaving a piece of yourself in them.**

**That idea made me think that a more adult and wiser Jaune might feel the need to make a gesture, perhaps a romantic one even, out of returning it.**

**I won't spoil, but you should consider Pyrrha's reaction as a foreshadowing of what I have planned for them ;p.**

**Any reviews and/or discussions are welcome… See you next time,**

**Localschor.**

* * *

><p>This was the old fore word:<p>

**Okay... so I'll just preface this chapter by saying my computer has decided to strike, which means I wasn't able to pass this through Word, to get rid of any grammar/spelling problems I missed. Sorry in advance.**

**Also, I won't have an afterword this time - because I'm using my phone to publish this and it's really not convenient.**


	4. A eulogy for a north star

Dear Monty Oum,

I heard of your death a day late and from fourth hand, not a fact I'm particularly proud of.

The truth is, you were just a name for me, the creator of a story that threw my mind in to the sea so it can discover lands on its own. I knew of you, from your work that inspired me.

But I didn't know enough; didn't care enough, to know more.

Despite this, your death took me by surprise – and I took your death really hard.

I didn't understand why, at first. But that became clear swiftly and decisively, as I looked at you and your past, the relationships and wonders you left behind.

Not just a star, lost in a sky full of them… But a north star, a guide in a landscape filled with noise and un-clarity.

Which is why I seek to dedicate the story, not just to you – because I understand that is not enough – but to all those men and women like you.

Those with the determination to turn their imagination in to reality, and what's more – share it with the rest of us. Those who work hard to make our world an ever so slightly nicer place to live in.

Those who create, illuminate, inspire, and every once in a while allow us a glimpse in to their world, so as to brighten ours.

I live half a world away, and yet – my night sky has lost some of its brightness, it lost a star.

The only, misally and insignificant conciliation I can give is that stars, especially those as bright as yours, are remembered.

And certainly missed.


	5. Chapter 4

**A friend of mine noticed that Jaune says "two years ago today" - which is wrong, it should be "two years ago yesterday". So I made that change.**

* * *

><p><em>The true nature of Dust, its inner workings and origin, are as lost to us today as it was to our ancestors, the day they discovered it. So how, you might ask yourself, can we possibly hope to master a tool we do not fully understand?<em>

'First scale: Dust'. The Four Remaining Scales.

* * *

><p>13:03, First Floor, Academic Wing, Beacon Academy.<p>

After Ruby spent the past half-hour convincing Yang that despite her energy and 'feeling fine' – she should, in fact, listen to the Beacon medical staff and rest a little longer. In the end, they compromised the rapidly approaching lunchtime as the end of her, quote – 'bedside incarceration.'

And so, walking along the corridor from the infirmary to the entrance, she smelled something. It was energizing, like waking up on the right foot in the morning.

She stopped, closed her eyes, and drew in a large volume of the air. It was really familiar, on the tip of her tongue.

"Miss Rose," _No… definitely not roses._ "Do you have a moment?"

"Of course," she opened her eyes to the sight of the only adult she knew was shorter than her. "Professor Gullive, what do you want to discuss about?"

"Don't tell anyone about this yet, but I'm signing you up for the Bloody Carnival," he said; the smell was not coming from him. "So keep your schedule open, the entirety of next week."

"The Carnival?" Ruby replied, surprised. "But I'm only a third year."

"It's true that the fourth years can go a bit crazy during the carnival week, but after your performance today I brought the idea to Ozpin, and he agreed – you need to get as many points as possible, if you want to captain this year's Luminous Hunt for the Vital Festival."

"Won't Pyrrha lead the hunt? She's ranked first."

"Miss Nikos has months of rehabilitation before she'll be anywhere near tournament form, I expect – and before you ask, Miss Xiao Long is too much of a loose cannon to captain anything."

"But don't you have other candidates? Aren't I too young?" Ruby scratched her head, she was definitely uncomfortable in the spotlight.

"On the contrary… Now that you're seventeen and of legal age, you can enter all of the tournaments… Better yet, you'll be the youngest huntress – or huntsman, for that matter – to lead a team in the Luminous Hunt… _Ever_."

"But –"

"I have the utmost confidence you'll plough through your competition," the Professor did not let her rebut – and was, in fact, already walking along towards the infirmary. "Don't let this opportunity pass you by…"

Ruby just stood there for a moment, processing the news.

_They want me in the Luminous Hunt –_ the Vital tournament was where you went to be recognized as a fighter, but the hunt was the true measure of a huntress. _Dust… They want me to __**lead**__ it!_

Her moment of contemplation was cut off by raving laughter. She followed it, and the smell – to the nearest window.

She looked down to see white hair.

Under that white hair was, obviously, a student. A first year, she guessed, wearing a modified version of the academy's uniform – the detailing was shifting its color. He was leaning against the wall in a squat, smoking a cigarette – the source of the familiar smell.

"What are you laughing about?" She asked him, leaning on the sill. "No, more importantly – what's that you're smoking?"

He looked straight up at her with the palest shade of blue eyes she's ever seen, with a wide grin. "Smells like coffee, doesn't it?" He gestured the cigarette, then offered it to her. "Laced a pinch of energy Dust into the tobacco."

"Wait," she took it with the carefulness she'd give a high explosive, carefully examining the cylindrical object, and the thin line of smoke coming out of it. "Is that even legal?"

"Strictly speaking?" He shrugged. "It is – but heavily frowned upon, and you might be disqualified from official events in the next eight hours."

She took a really small, test puff, which made her hack as is she'd swallowed something un-chewed. As she handed the cigarette back, she felt the effects of a shot of espresso. "Wow…"

"Powerful stuff, huh?"

"It is! So tell me, what were you laughing at?"

"You don't remember me, do you?" He responded with his own question, his pale eyes looking right into hers again.

"Not really… Should I?"

"We were in the same class at Signal, though our social circles were different… So I guess not."

"Really? Who was your weapon's design teacher?"

"'That dusty old Qrow…' He never stops talking about you, by the way." The first year jumped to his feet abruptly, and took pose, as if he had a scythe perching on his should. "Not enough stopping power! My niece can stop a century old Boarbatusk with a single shot, mid-charge! And you should be able to, too!"

His impression was spot on, and made Ruby blush; the chuckling came notwithstanding.

Hoping to avoid further embarrassment, she changed the subject. "So you lace dust into all your clothes?"

"Dust junkie all the way," he pulled up his sleeve, revealing a tattoo sprawled across his forearm. "Even got it under my skin."

"Can you do it with existing clothes?" She just got a great idea.

"Wouldn't be that good if I couldn't… Why, you want that hood modified?"

"No… I mean yes! But first I have this gift for a friend who could really use the extra help…"

He feigned, quite obviously so, that he thinking about it. "Sure… But I want something in return."

"My allowance isn't that big," Ruby felt disappointed, of course he wouldn't just do it for free... "Maybe if I ask –"

"A date with the Signal prodigy, this Friday."

Ruby blushed again, heavily this time. "What? I guess… that would be cool…"

"Excellent," he jumped into the corridor through the window, and began walking to the infirmary. "Bring the clothes you want me to work with to the first year dorm, after dinner."

"Wait, what's your name?"

"Next time you hear an explosion, remember the name – Shiro Morya!"

Ruby heard the news during lunch – someone blew up four of the first year's lockers this morning.

* * *

><p>13:52, Recovery ward, Vale Central Medical.<p>

Two hours… Two _dusting_ hours, that's how long she drove.

Two hours of talking Ren's ear off, and getting no response whatsoever.

Nora even let Ren pick the music, and she hated his taste in music.

He just spent the ride looking blankly at his book – without even have the courtesy to flip the pages occasionally!

Ren obviously didn't understand the position she was in – things would be so much easier if they weren't childhood friends, or if she didn't love him.

But she did, and that confused the dust out of her.

_We need to talk…_ She decided, as they were walking towards Pyrrha's room. She was about to force him into it, but:

"Ren!" Jaune grabbed Ren by the shoulder; he looked distraught. "Just the guy I was waiting for."

"Okay…?" Ren, when in doubt, put his usual calm demeanor on. "What happened?"

"Not here," Jaune looked around nervously. "Come with me."

"Wait!" Nora called after the two, as Jaune pulled Ren away. "Ren… Jaune…"

She found herself, a moment later, with her hand stretched in the direction they went.

She felt tired, always pushing herself to be that chipper girl that everybody knew; they had no idea how exhausting that was.

She wished it came naturally to her, that nothing phased her – but was all an act, one that she was good at, but an act all the same.

_Sunshine and video games…_ Nora took a deep breath, and closed her eyes as she leaned on a wall, starting to psych herself into the right mood, into the person she always saw in the mirror. _Just smile, put the mask back on… Associate hunting with good things. You don__'__t hate cake… __Or cookies__… Or even explosives…_

A couple of minutes later she opened her eyes, and she had a grin on her face. She picked up the stuff Ren left in the hall – which were pushed aside as the staff bustled about their busy work, and restart in Pyrrha's direction.

She noticed an uneaten cupcake laying on one of the food trays, and took a bite without giving herself a chance to stop herself.

The tastelessly sugary pastry sent a chill down her spine, but she pushed through it. _Don__'__t forget__… They think you like this stuff._

* * *

><p>13:59, Pyrrha's Room, Recovery Ward, VCM.<p>

Pyrrha was, ironically, pleased to find out that the internet had a nigh infinite supply of songs that catered to the way she felt: dark and moody.

She was listening to a particularly violent song when Nora burst in. "How are you doing, my fellow huntress?"

Sighing heavily, Pyrrha took out the earphones in time to hear the thuds her and Jaune's bags made, thrown callously at the padded seat Jaune slept in. "We're still in training."

Jaune's stunt earlier had taught her that the only way of getting her peace and quiet was entertaining those her around her to a certain extent – so they'd leave.

Nora jumped onto her bed, regardless of the responding complaints, and checked Pyrrha's music. "This won't do… I brought just the thing!"

"You really don't have to…" Nora was already rummaging through the bag she'd brought for Pyrrha, and took out a small gaming console.

"Poppydust! Here," she brought her GameSlave over, complete with half a dozen cartridges. "GuiltyDust, Call of War, Legend of Svelda, Evercold Nights, Pokegrimm Green, and my personal favorite – for when you really need to feel omnipotent – Hunter May Cry! Glynda introduced me to this one…"

"Glynda played video games?" Pyrrha raised an eyebrow as she received the bundle of games.

"She was really good too! I she always beat my high scores, right up to when she… She…" Nora couldn't complete the sentence, and her face slowly lost its color - she wasn't smiling anymore, either.

"Until she died…" They all felt bad over the death. Pyrrha looked up to Glynda, too. "I didn't know you were close?"

"There's a lot you don't know about me…" She looked pained.

"What does that –"

"Ahh Nora! You're here already." The guys, Jaune and Ren, finally came. "Team JNPR, unite!"

Jaune thought he was being funny… He wasn't.

"Excuse me," Nora said, shuffling out quickly. "I think I need a coffee..."

"Coffee? Nora!" Ren tried to follow her, but was quickly blocked held back by Jaune.

"Just remember what we talked about," Jaune whispered, though not particularly quietly, and followed Nora.

Ren moved beside her bed.

He remained silent as the incessant beeping of her vitals, as translated by the machine, continued.

Eventually, the dim sounding track that sounded off her earphones came to an end… Only to be replaced by even less intelligible screaming.

"How is everyone?" Pyrrha broke the silence.

"Usual drama… Gullive asked about you."

"I doubt that, for some reason."

"Yeah…" He said, trailing off.

The silence returned… She was about to give up again when Ren started talking.

"You know," he said, extending his hand. "We'd all switch places with you, if we could."

"I know," Pyrrha took his hand in hers, letting them both hang for a moment. "But I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemies."

They let go, then Pyrrha went back to her music. It took almost an hour for Jaune to bring Nora back.

But no one talked.

* * *

><p>19:32, Undisclosed Location.<p>

**; (Authors note: you're free to listen to 'secrete police' as you read this part – it is the song Miku is listening to ~ ;-p)**

Coco entered the apartment turned command-center, and was assaulted by very loud music.

The musician at the vocals was apparently very popular in Atlas, but Coco didn't like her as much.

"Will you turn down the volume?" She said at her normal tone, but as many Beacon attendees would testify, Coco's voice had an authority to it that went beyond volume, or beyond reason for that matter,

"Ohh, good, you're here~" Miku lowered the volume of the music to reasonable degree, and spun in her chair to meet the new agent. "General Ironwood speaks highly of you~"

The girl, who has enough blue hair to wipe the floor with, extended her hand; Coco completed the gesture, shaking it. "You're Hatsune Miku, right? How do you know Ironwood?"

"I don't actually know the General," Miku faced her computer again and swiftly typed a command, changing a screen that had previously displayed the concert she was listening to, into a window that displayed Ironwood's portrait. "But I know he said it~."

It played a conversation that featured the general praising her, and even staking his career for her.

Coco was actually more surprised by the fact that Miku had a recording of the General then the contents of the conversation. She knew she good, and she certainly wasn't planning on disappointing him. "You recorded the general?"

"The ASS records everyone, so don't worry about it." Miku said with a smile and a peace sign. "But your here to briefed, right?"

"Yeah, I couldn't meet the team yesterday because -"

"Because of your friend, Pyrrha Nikos." A couple more commands, and a different screen displayed Pyrrha's medical file. "Too bad about your friend, she really had potential."

"She really _has_ potential, I wouldn't bet against her if I were you."

"I'll take your word for it, sweetie~." The girl continued to type in commands, and as if in synch with her thoughts, half a dozen screens switched to show a variety of information relevant to Coco's mission. "The team has been investigating into group we believe is mostly composed of huntsmen and huntresses," she gestured one of the screens. "These guys are definitely members, but they are all low level~

"Anyway we can tie this group to events happening all over Remnant, including the attack on Seal –"

"Seal was attacked?" Coco interjected.

"Ohh it hasn't reached the news here yet, did it? Yeah, Seal was attacked this morning." She gestured yet another screen. "Those _Dusters_ killed two students and 6 staff members."

"So… Atlas is after a splinter hunting group, which operates out of Vale, and attacks the Vacuo flag hunting program?"

"That's not all~, it's still preliminary, but early reports are stating the weapons they used came from a shipment we sent to Vital that went missing two weeks ago…"

"Why would a group of huntsmen use military issue? If they wanted to avoid identification, wouldn't they just forge new Grimm-grade weapons? They'd have a lot more control."

"You're a natural talent, sweetie~… They probably have the funding for it, too. It's just one of many questions we've been asking ourselves."

"Is that all?" Coco said after a few moments of examining the myriad of screens.

"Just your ticket," Miku handed her an envelope, presumably containing the ticket in question. "First flight to Harper City tomorrow morning… Might I suggest you wear your huntress gear?"

"I don't 'hunt' humans or Faunus," she replied on her way out.

"Now that's just naïve, sweetie~"

* * *

><p>23:43, Beacon.<p>

Weiss nodded at her own mirrored visage, having spent the last hour to bring herself to a state that went beyond presentability.

Wearing a brand new suit, the white one with the red detailing she bought especially for this occasion, she looked at her teammates and asked: "How do I look?"

She was ignored.

Yang was sitting a barely a meter from the TV, playing a violent game of one sort or another, barking orders over her headset.

Blake was… Nowhere to be found; she was doing that a lot lately.

And Ruby, her partner, was hunched over the desk, the music from her headphones blaring. A closer examination revealed she was multitasking combat theory, dust patterning, and published hunting reports.

What was the connection? Weiss didn't know.

She never could follow Ruby's train of thought.

"Fine…" She was slightly offended, thinking the two sisters could really use better social lives. "I'm heading out, then."

* * *

><p>She stepped out, into the hall, and locked the door behind her - even with the death ensured to intruders of the hallowed sanctuary which is the RWBY dorm room, <em>you<em>_ can never know..._

She began walking down the hallway when a distinct sob stopped her.

It came from the JNPR dorm room.

Honestly, with Pyrrha and Jaune in the hospital, Weiss found it hard to imagine Ren crying - even more so Nora.

Weiss sighed, and checked her watch, _I__'__m not late or anything__… __Yet._

"Is everything alright?" She knocked on the door.

"Wait a moment!" Nora's muffled voice came from the other side of the door.

When she did finally open the door, which took a lot more than a moment, Nora smiled and said. "Ahh, Weiss! You look good… Heading out?"

The dissonance between Nora's smile and the rest of her face - makeup smeared and eyes puffy - sent a chill down Weiss's spine.

"I am…" Weiss answered carefully. "Are you okay? Where's Ren?"

"I'm fine, and Ren is out."

"Did something happen?" Weiss tried to head into the room, but Nora didn't budge. "Because you don't look fine."

"Nah, it's just…" She suspiciously looked down, searching for an answer. "It's just… My GameSlave died! Yeah, that's all it is!"

"Is that the video game you play?" Weiss checked her watch, at this rate, she was going to be late.

"Yeah, you know how it is… Right?"

"I don't, actually…" Weiss appraised Nora for a last time, then reached out to place a hand on her shoulder. "I don't have time right now… But if you need someone to talk to - about anything - just tell me, okay?"

"It's nothing, don't worry about me."

"Okay then, have a good night…" Weiss walked away as Nora mumbled something and closed the door with a bit more force than she strictly needed.

* * *

><p>She actually found Blake and Ren in the first floor lounge, reading. She considered talking to Ren about Nora, but he either knew what was going on, and there wasn't anything he could do about it, or he didn't - and that was a hornet's nest she wasn't going to open without talking to Nora first.<p>

She decided to leave the two alone when Blake called out to her. "Where are you going?"

"I have a social life," Weiss snapped. "Unlike the rest of you."

Blake left her seat, motioning Ren to stay in his own, and approached Weiss. "It's almost midnight, doesn't look all that social with that getup."

"Says the girl who spends only three hours a day in her room?" She retorted.

"Yeah, but at least you know why."

Weiss looked into the lounge, saw that Ren was still reading calmly, and pulled Blake into the hallway, whispering in her ear. "You're out of touch, everyone is acting suspiciously."

"What are you talking about?" She whispered back.

"Cardin told me how Yang punched a guy last night - she broke three ribs - it's obvious she's losing control. Ruby's been studying all day, and it is combat theory, of all things. Pyrrha can't stay out of the hospital, and..." Weiss paused for effect. "Nora's upstairs - crying."

"Nora is... Crying?" Blake was shocked; she peered into the lounge, at the very calm Ren. "Does Ren know?"

"I don't think so, and I don't think you should tell him either."

"He should know -"

"You should just focus on getting back on Yang's good side... I'll talk to Nora tomorrow."

"Dust... Why not today?" Blake raised an eyebrow.

"Because I really do need to get going..." She looked at her watch - now she cutting it close. "I'll talk to you in the morning."

"Good night..." Was the last thing Blake said before Weiss walked away.

* * *

><p>Weiss walked toward the old campus, which was off limits for students as well as the stuff, passing the Ranger's Plaza - and its ominous statue - on her way.<p>

The old campus was once the original Beacon, back when air travel was impossible and the roads nonexistent. The decrepit buildings were much smaller than their modern counterparts, but must have been, at one time, quite lavish even by today's standards.

She stopped by one of the buildings, allowing the light of the broken moon to illuminate a wall with some sort of art on it, as she examined it.

It wasn't graffiti, but part of the original paint; she was pleasantly surprised, romanticizing the absence of vandalism - this entire area might as well be a history book onto itself, and was allowed to rest as such.

She moved on to the main structure, and walked inside. The darkness enveloped her swiftly and completely, but she wasn't fazed; she knew there was nothing to obstruct her path, as this wasn't her first time here.

As she reached the back of the building, she met Ozpin - he stood vigilant with both hands on his cane - under the only light that worked.

It was an elevator.

She walked into it, and faced the exit as he did, waiting for him to start it.

"This is the last chance to walk away," he finally said, not moving to activate the elevator.

"I'm here already," She replied. "I made my choice, as you knew I would."

"It's not going to be easy, what we will do here... You will know things you won't want to know, the people you will meet and the things you will see from now on... Even I lose sleep over it."

"I doesn't matter," Weiss turned to Ozpin. "Like you told me, the world is going to hell, and the hunter is the last line of defense."

"I was right to choose you..." Ozpin turned to meet her adamant gaze with a confident one of his own. "Dazzle them for me, will you?"

He poked the elevator's terminal with a code, and it took them down.

* * *

><p><strong>Afterword:<strong>

**I made a bit of an extra effort with this chapter (4k words!) so as to finish the second day with almost all of the plots touched/introduced. – Sort of like a four chapter prologue… XD**

**As you can definitely see, what I wrote in the first chapter's afterword - about my plans for the story, turned out to be a **_**huge**_** understatement, and what started off with about four plots to follow became a dozen.**

**That, together with the fact that this is my first undertaking of this type, means that I'm doing a lot of mistakes.**

**Another thing you'll notice is that I'm not doing flashbacks, or concurrent scenes, and have made a very compact timeline, resulting in 2 chapters for each day – and even then I will be skipping a bunch of scenes that are happening off stage.**

**Apropos****, I've been having trouble writing scenes for Blacklotus, which is why my favored pair is not seeing as much face-time as I'd like. Hopefully it's a problem that will fix itself as I continue trying to write for them.**

**About RubyxOC… Unfortunately, I don't really subscribe to the assumption of RoseArc, and there aren't that many male characters in the show (I have 1 yuri pairing currently planned, but I haven't revealed the characters in question.) I have some drama planned for our Ruby, but it will take quite a few chapters to bear fruit, in that regard.**

**I forgot to mention, because it wasn't that relevant, the first chapter starts on Monday night/Tuesday morning. Following this logic, chapter three starts Wednesday, and chapter five will start Thursday, etc… I went back to the previous chapters and added day names where appropriate.**

**Thank you for reading, and if you have anything you want to discuss/talk about, your free to. **

**Reviews are also welcome.**

**Localschor~**


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